Northampton County received a generally positive audit Wednesday despite some discrepancies in human services accounting.

In one instance, a $3.7 million revenue entry in the Health Choices program was recorded twice because a financial employee took a leave of absence, and their replacement didn't realize the accrual had already been received and booked, Human Services Director Ross Marcus said after Wednesday's Finance Committee meeting.

At Gracedale, the county's nursing home management company, Premier Healthcare Resources, included expected reimbursements in its 2012 financial statements that it wouldn't actually receive until 2013. The accounting firm said the home's books shouldn't account for anticipated revenues that go out more than 90 days.

As a result, Gracedale actually required a $5 million county subsidy in 2012, rather than $4.3 million.

Councilwoman Peg Ferraro suggested that someone may have been trying to make Gracedale's finances look better than they were, but Marcus stressed that the reimbursements were coming in, it was just a confusion over when they should be recorded.

Premier logs revenues in that manner at the other nursing homes it manages, Marcus said.

In another instance, Marcus said the county received more funding in the Children, Youth and Families Division that anticipated and that was stated in the county's year-end books, which are closed before the state completes its own records in February. A county fiscal officer caught the mistake, Marcus said.

"The point is that we caught the mistake and we got it corrected," he said

Ferraro was concerned that county fiscal officers report to division heads and not to another fiscal officer, who can act as another safeguard.

While that could strengthen the county's accounting procedures, Marcus said, it weakens the fiscal officers' relationships with the human services divisions.

"The more distance you create," he said, "the less understanding the programmatic staff has of their own financial records.

There's no question the county has to take a deeper look at its internal controls and procedures, he added.